William Fugazy

October 25, 1990 | BETH KLEID, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

The Golden Peach Pit: "GoodFellas" led the list of movies, TV shows and commercials receiving "Golden Pit Awards" for ethnic insults. The awards, presented n the form of gold spray-painted peach pits, were presented by William Fugazy, chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. The parody record "As Kosher as They Wanna Be," by "2 Live Jews" was singled out for self-denigrating Jewish jokes.

September 18, 1990 | BETH KLEID, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

Not So Good, Fellas: Martin Scorsese has upset the Italian-American community with his newest film, "GoodFellas." A watchdog group on ethnic injustice said that the gangster film, which stars Robert DeNiro, is "the worst thing that's ever been done to Italian-Americans." William Fugazy, of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, called the movie "cruel, ruthless and inaccurate." The organization claims to have 10 million members. "We're going to boycott it and we want Warner Bros.

July 12, 1991 | BETH KLEID, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

CBS Won't Spike It: CBS Entertainment has rejected an appeal by the head of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations Inc., an umbrella group representing ethnic organizations, to cancel its broadcast of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" on Saturday. The request was made by William Fugazy, chairman of the group, who charged that the film promoted racial violence.

The widely acclaimed film "GoodFellas" today led the list of movies, TV shows and commercials to receive "Golden Pit Awards" for ethnic insults. The award, a gold spray-painted peach pit, was presented by William Fugazy, the honorary chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. Fugazy called "GoodFellas" "the worst movie that ever came out as far as portraying the Italo-American family . . . particularly in showing the family participating in crimes." He called it "absurd."

August 11, 1989 | ALEENE MacMINN, Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation's press

NBC's "The Golden Girls" and the film "Mississippi Burning" have been given Golden Pit Awards for negative stereotyping by a coalition of ethnic groups in New York City. "We want the producers of this material to be more sensitive. In their quest to entertain, they often contribute to negative stereotyping," said William Fugazy, honorary chairman of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations.

Geraldine A. Ferraro has split with the Coalition of Italo-American Assns. over what she called a sexist endorsement by the group in November's elections. The New York Daily News reported today that Ferraro, the unsuccessful 1984 Democratic candidate for vice president, resigned from the group because she was angry that the coalition backed incumbent Rep. Joseph DioGuardi over Democratic challenger Bella Abzug.

Koll Management Services said Tuesday that it has acquired a property management and leasing portfolio on the East Coast and in the Midwest from Tishman Management & Leasing Services. The company, which manages office buildings, business and industrial parks and retail centers, bought Tishman's portfolio of 3.8 million square feet of properties in New York, Atlanta, Florida and Virginia.

A group of American veterans hoping to make peace with their Vietnam War experiences left Seattle for the jungle nation where, with the help of counselors, they will replace traumatic memories with fresh images. "I have a lot of dreams about Vietnam, a lot of thoughts about Vietnam, and I will live with it until I die.